Tag Archives: Chocolate

Who doesn’t like Soufflés, those light, moist, airy as clouds cakes. Savoury or sweet, they’re bound to impress your guests at dinner parties… that is, if the soufflé doesn’t collapse before reaching the dining table, or worse, never rises. Capricious little things they are…

An energetic and passionate pastry chef, award-winning Anna Polyviou‘s had a career spanning 13 years that’s taken her around the world from Melbourne to London, Paris (working for Pierre Hermé), Chicago and now, Sydney.

After five years running the pastry and baking operations at Bathers Pavilion, Anna has recently been appointed to her new role as the Executive Pastry Chef at the Shangri-La Hotel in The Rocks.

It’s not that often that I venture across the Bridge, I know it’s still Sydney, but to me Mosman feels like the other side of the world. However, when one of the Four Frogs owners, Florian Guillemard, invited me to visit their crêperie, the prospect of authentic Breton galettes and crêpes was enough to lure me to that part of town.

Valrhona is a name I grew up hearing about, as my hometown Romans-sur-Isère was not far from their headquarters in Tain l’Hermitage (Drôme), an area better known for their Syrah wines, made by Chapoutier, Jaboulet et al. I knew at the time it was supposed to be a fine chocolate, but I wasn’t aware of their international reputation, which is pretty much that of being one of the best chocolates in the world.

Following our little misfortunes in Lyon, we had almost a whole week in Paris to live the dream. We had rented a little studio in the 11th Arrondissement, with a “kitchenette”, which allowed us to cook a few meals, coffee and breakfast.

Our place was near the Goncourt metro station, which was ideally close to Canal St-Martin, République, as well as the cool Oberkampf area.